Chapter 41
At the entrance of the hot spring, I wrapped myself tightly in a big bathrobe, almost hiding my whole body.
“This way, please,” a servant said politely, bowing slightly.
I swallowed hard and whispered, “Has Hayden arrived yet?”
“He isn’t here yet. The servant shook her head.
I breathed a sigh of relief and straightened up a bit. If he wasn’t here, what was there to worry about? Maybe he chickened out and wasn’t coming at all, I kept telling myself that as I walked into the circular hot spring pool
The sound of rushing water mixed with the scent of herbs created a relaxing atmosphere. I slipped off the bathrobe and stepped barefoot down the curved stairs. The warm water awakened every part of me.
I found a deeper spot and sank down, trying to let the water cover my neck. What if Hayden showed up later! If I stayed submerged, he might not see me too easily, right?
I couldn’t help but sigh. If Lucy saw me like this, she’d probably burst out laughing.
Maybe it was the comfort of the hot springs, or just exhaustion, but I started to feel drowsy.
Just as I was about to doze off, 1 heard footsteps approaching behind me. I jumped awake, too scared to turn my head.
The footsteps got closer–was it Haydent Instinctively, I submerged myself more, leaving just my mouth and nose above water. This way, 1 would be even harder to spot, right?
The view underwater was already distorted, and mixed with the herbal colors, it was a blurred mess.
“You didn’t want to come, did you? Why did you get here early then? Talk about contradictory, Hayden sneered, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“It’s none of your business” I shot back, blowing bubbles on the surface. He was the one who was late; I wasn’t early.
At that moment, Hayden stepped in front of me. He walked down the steps and casually untied the towel around his waist, tossing it aside
1 caught a glimpse of his chiseled abs and quickly averted my gaze. My face was burning up, and I couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or just the steamy heat of the hot springs
Fortunately, Hayden didn’t sit next to me. Instead, he chose the opposite side. The area fell silent, with no sound at all I couldn’t help but sneak a glance at him.
He had his eyes closed, hands resting comfortably on the steps behind him, revealing half of his upper body. Water droplets trickled down from his short hair, cheeks, and collarbone, merging with the water on his sun–kissed skin.
The rising steam gave him an almost ethereal glow–an enchanting sight, and I found myself staring. Maybe back then, I had been blinded by his good looks. Well, one really couldn’t judge a guy solely by his appearance.
Hayden seemingly sensed my gaze, and suddenly, he parted his lips, breaking the silence. Jamie isn’t willing to drop the lawsuit
I jolted at his sudden voice. Pulling myself together, 1 took a deep breath, trying to calm the racing of my heart. “He has three broken ribs and a fractured leg. Of course, he wouldn’t want to drop the lawsuit.
A normal person would have lost it after being beaten like that, right? Nevin, the privileged guy, always acted without thinking, leaning on the Parker family for protection. Honestly, he deserved to be locked up for some real reform.
About thirty seconds later, Hayden opened his eyes, those deep eyes locking onto mine. “Six months ago, you convinced him not to press charges. How did you pull that off?”
The situation with Nevin had escalated, and as the older brother, Hayden had to step in. But upon closer examination, he found Yvonne had been the one to handle things initially.
This was no small matter. Rumor had it that Jaimie had made a huge scene back then, and the Parker family even had offered him 600 thousand dollars to settle quietly, but he had refused.
Then Yvonne got involved. No one knew what she had done, but Jamie ended up not suing Nevin. Still, the injuries were documented, and not too much time had passed, so Jamie could still file a lawsuit now,
1/2
Cove Check–in
Voucher
7:46 PM
Chapter 41
What impressed Hayden was how Yvonne, who once seemed useless, managed to do what so many experts and lawyers couldn’t
He had his people look into it, but they came up empty. Even his team couldn’t find anything, which only piqued his curiosity about how she managed in all
I could see the confusion on his face, and I let out a cold laugh. “You’re just like everyone else out there, thinking how someone like me could possibly pull this off, right?”
Back then, I had been madly in love with Hayden, ignoring all the gossip around us. But I realized I had been completely wrong because Hayden feh the same way about me.
Hayden’s eyes narrowed, and the atmosphere turned icy. “It seems you’ve been hiding a lot from me.”
“Aren’t you doing the same?” 1 shot back, my smile turning bitter. “I just realized that all these years, we’ve never really had a proper conversation or understood each other”
Most of the time, I had been the one chasing him while he had kept running away. The few times we could sit down and talk were so rare they could be counted on one hand.
We didn’t understand each other at all, yet somehow, we ended up married. Looking back, it was pretty
funny
Hayden’s expression darkened as he watched me.
I shifted the topic back. “How I got Jamie to drop the lawsuit isn’t the point, What matters is that Im not helping Nevin this time. He needs to learn
lesson I should have realized that earlier and never helped him back then
“Hell show you respect, Hayden said, his voice low,
I was confused, and I almost laughed. “No need for that. In two months and nine days, we won’t have any ties let anyway” I managed a small smile, brushing off what he said.
I didn’t need that nebulous respect. Nevin and the Parker family had never given me any respect to begin with.
Whenever divorce came up, Hayden’s expression always darkened. “Do you really want a divorce?”
“Anyone who doesn’t want a divorce is just a puppy,” I shot back without even thinking. That was basically my dream
Hayden stared at me coldly, I couldn’t tell how much time passed before he suddenly bent down and slipped into the water, swimming toward me.
I instantly went on high alert, every part of me tensing up. “What are you doing?” I stammered. Every time he got closer, it never turned out well.
He stopped just a half–step away, brazenly looking me over. “No regrets!”
“No regrets” I gritted my teeth and stared right into his deep eyes. Under the water, my hands were balled into right fists from nerves.
At that moment, Hayden looked like a volcano about to crupt. But all he let out was a gentle sigh. Then let’s just go through with the divorce.”
Las Crack–h
